Ashby family: Why did the police let him go?

Carolee Sadie Ashby was struck and killed by a hit and run driver Oct. 31, 1968 at 6:30 p.m.

According to her death certificate, the four-year-old girl died of a crushed chest.

The Fulton police Department conducted an investigation in conjunction with the State Police and the Oswego County Sheriff’s Department. A roadblock wasn’t set up until the next day and a police camera at the crime scene failed to operate.

However, witness statements led to the man who confessed last week to hitting Carolee and driving away.

Police reports from 1968 show that the man who confessed, Douglas Parkhurst, reportedly had been investigated and despite the evidence against him, he was not charged.

A report dated Nov. 2, 1968 has the name of the suspect redacted, however, the family of Carolee Ashby is sure it is the name of Parkhurst because new information corroborated the 1968 report.

The typewritten report states that the suspect’s mother told a friend that on the night the little girl was killed, her son had come home crying that he had hit a pole in the City of Fulton.

The police then contacted someone (the name was redacted), who said they were no relation to the suspect. About a half-hour later, however, the person called the station and said that the woman had a son 18 years of age who drives a brown Buick sedan.

The car that hit Carolee was a tan colored Buick sedan.

There is a handwritten note on the bottom of the report that states the it should be further checked.

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